Time Warner customers vent after Super Bowl blackout

Seattle Seahawks’ Percy Harvin (11) returns a kickoff 87-yards for a touchdown during the second half of the NFL Super Bowl XLVIII football game against the Denver Broncos Sunday, Feb. 2, 2014, in East Rutherford, N.J.
AP Photo — Matt Slocum

While the NFL rejoiced in the news that Sunday’s Super Bowl XLVIII was the most-watched TV show in U.S. history with an average of 111.5 million viewers, Time Warner Cable subscribers in Southern California continued to spitefully vent Monday after a blackout glitch dropped Fox’s standard definition signal for more than an hour and led to a disruption of thousands of viewing parties.

Some 2 million customers exist in TWC’s Southern California region that spans from the Coachella Valley to Ventura County, and practically all have high definition access through updated digital distribution. It’s likely only a small percentage trying to watch the game on KTTV (Channel 11)’s somewhat-outdated standard definition signal were actually affected, according to sources within the company and those experts who follow the cable TV business.

Still, the fact that anyone had to read a message “signal currently unavailable” frozen on their flatscreens during the second quarter and through the halftime show was enough to cause random chaos.

For many, the frustration mounted by attempts to call TWC technical help that went unanswered. Others, however, did not even know that they had always had access to the much clearer and unaffected high-definition tier of local channels through their digital box connection until it was pointed out to them by friends at the disrupted Super Bowl parties.

As some took to social media platforms to demand rebates and threaten cancellation of the service, TWC spokesman Dennis Johnson said Monday evening that Time Warner would issue a free On Demand movie credit to all customers in the Los Angeles area and a $5 gift certificate to analog customers.

Johnson confirmed that the cause of the problem was a piece of equipment that processes video signals, and they were still looking into all aspects of why it happened.

The issue started during a commercial just after the Seahawks added the second of their two second-quarter touchdowns — a crushing interception return by game MVP Malcolm Smith that made the score 22-0.

The service resumed sometime around the play when Seattle’s Percy Harvin returned the second-half kickoff for a touchdown and a 29-0 lead, which would end up in a 43-8 triumph.

Between 4:45 and 6:30 p.m., TWC offered apologies for customer angst and posted updates on its Facebook page and Twitter account, explaining the issue was being address by a “team of engineers working through the telecast.” It added that the problem also affected standard definition feeds for KCAL (Channel 9) and KTLA (Channel 5).

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The social media platforms also allowed customers to respond in droves to the #TWCSuperBowlFail, many threatening to cancel their service starting Monday:

“My entire party is ruined!!!!,” wrote someone identified as Tommy Chandler. “YOU owe me $400 for food and entertainment. Everyone has left to go watch the game somewhere else if they can find it in time. YOU just ruined superbowl Sunday. SCREW YOU!!!!”

“How about answering the phone?” wrote another identified as Sheila Korsi. “No Super Bowl on TV, no one answering your phone... Service, please!”

The Korsi post later added: “If we miss the half time show — and on behalf of the football fans, if they miss the rest of the show — are you going to provide us with free On Demand viewing? Some people wait a whole year to watch the Super Bowl and won’t because of (this) technical problem(s). Thanks.”

While watching the game at a Super Bowl party in Northridge, documentary filmmaker Ann McElinney posted a picture on her Twitter account of people throwing their hands in the air looking at the dark TV screen with the caption: “Yep that’s us NOT watching #SuperBowl thanks #timewarnercable for nothing.”

Torrance resident Rebecca Darrow, 67, said she and her husband, Richard, watched the first half at a party in Hermosa Beach and left to watch the second half at home. But when they turned their own TV set on, the picture was also black.

“I was the one who was upset because he was upset,” she said. “I knew I would be calling Time Warner to figure out what was going on.”

Interesting, Fox and the NFL also reported Monday that the halftime show was watched by a record-breaking 115.3 million viewers, topping the prior record of 114 million (two years ago) and surpassing the 110.8 million from last year.

Hawthorne resident Tee Tillman said the television went black just before halftime. It made her “very angry” to be unable to see the halftime show.

“If I didn’t live in a building I would change companies,” Tillman said. “If I had a choice it would not be Time Warner.”

Advertisers who paid upwards to $4 million for a spot during the game could not have been pleased. In fact, the irony was not lost on some viewers who, once the service returned, saw several Time Warner ads during the second half of the game with Sean Combs and other celebrities touting how the company “invents ways for you to enjoy it even better.”

Just days earlier, TWC chief executive Rob Marcus issued a statement to customers about a new strategy to improve customer service. That wasn’t lost on other TWC customer postings on Facebook.

“Typical TWC!!! Can you expect any less?” posted someone identified as Jeannette Dube. “Only last week their CEO was commenting on how they need to add value to their stockholders. What about their customers? We never count....So much for a Super Bowl Party. We can not even get through on the phone. ... do you think they know? Will they give us a credit? I DON’T THINK SO!!”

Ron Cervenka, who runs the Dodgers’ fan site ThinkBlueLA.com, said that once the game became one-sided in favor of the Seahawks, his only incentive to keep watching was for the commercials, “but alas, they deprived me of even that.”

Vicky Azofeifa of San Pedro said the outage was the reason she has AT&T. Azofeifa visited the Time Warner branch office in Torrance to pay a $112 bill, despite switching from her Time Warner service two years ago. She disputed the bill, but her son could not sell the house until it was paid and it was not worth losing the sale.

“That’s why I call them a big alligator,” Azofeifa said. “They eat the people who don’t have any say so.”

In a press release, announcing the company’s intention to issue movie credits and gift cards, Deborah Picciolo, senior vice president of operations said, “We didn’t live up to our standards for a quality customer experience. We know there’s no way to undo the inconvenience of last night’s outage, and we want them to know how truly sorry we are for this issue.”